‘Dinkoid’ Cars With High IQs

Car and Driver, a much-cited source on this blog, points out an interesting trend: “Manufacturers are so jittery about peddling micro subcompacts that they’ve resorted to intellectual flattery.”

Consider the offerings in what the enthusiast car magazine refers to as the “dinkoid segment.” There’s the Smart Fortwo; the THINK (a micro-electric-car project that has since been suspended); and, now, the Scion IQ, an offering from Toyota’s would-be hipster brand.

Reading the reviews, however, it’s hard not to think the high-IQ move would be to buy a bigger car–even a Honda Fit, a luxo-barge by comparison. (Among the drawbacks of the Smart Fortwo, for example, according to Car and Driver, is that there is “not enough interior room for your pride.”)